Senate Republicans last week unveiled a new COVID-19 stimulus package giving the U.S. Department of Agriculture broad flexibility to spend more than $20 billion to compensate farmers and ag processors for losses due to the pandemic. 

The measure, officially called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act, provides funding to support “producers, growers and processors” impacted by the coronavirus, including livestock and poultry depopulated due to meat packer shutdowns. It’s also expected that the bill could provide support for contract hog and poultry farmers as well as other...